Tag Archives: military

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen says that the proposed DADT compromise deal allows the military to decide whether the repeal will take place at all, regardless of how Congress votes. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday that he’s comfortable with proposed legislation that seeks to repeal the law that bans gay men and …

Christian Newswire, which normally flogs the bleatings of the Family Research Council, has just sent out the below press release from some outfit called America’s Survival titled Disease-tainted Gay Blood Threatens Our Troops! “A vote to repeal the homosexual exclusion policy would inevitably mean more disease and death for members of our Armed Forces,” stated Cliff Kincaid, the veteran journalist …

Adam Bink is reporting on Open Left that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has agreed to be the final necessary vote to move the DADT repeal out the Senate Armed Services Committee and onto the floor for a full vote. I was told Sen. Nelson’s message is going to be that this isn’t about the next election… what the [Lieberman-Levin] amendment …

Rachel recaps yesterday’s news and give a brief history on the creation and effects of DADT. Yesterday some members of the GOP threatened to veto the entire Defense budget bill of the repeal of DADT was attached as an amendment. Rep. Patrick Murphy, the sponsor of the compromise repeal bill, joins Rachel about halfway through.

A U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq is being investigated for posted a Facebook video in which he mocks two young Iraqi boys, asking if they are little “faggots” who are good at gay sex and whether they will grow up to be terrorists. Army officials have ordered the solider to remove the video from his page, but it has already …

Earlier today White House officials met with LGBT groups to hammer out a compromise agreement on attaching a repeal of DADT as an amendment to a pending Defense authorization bill. Following the meeting, the White House for the first time endorsed the amendment attempt. While some see lots of holes in the compromise, most LGBT and progressive groups are responding …

Kerry Eleveld reports at the Advocate on some breaking news about DADT: The Advocate has learned that concurrent meetings took place Monday morning at the White House and on Capitol Hill that could help clear the way for “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal to be attached to the Department of Defense authorization bill later this week. LGBT groups met with …

According to the Washington Post, the coming vote to attach the repeal of DADT to a defense authorization bill is too close to call. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote by the end of the week on an amendment to the annual defense spending bill that would end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which Congress passed in 1993. …

Speaking at a Harvey Milk Day celebration in San Francisco, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed that DADT will be nothing but a memory by Christmas.

Servicemembers United is asking everybody to call their members of Congress today in a “last chance” effort on DADT. Another chance for you to be a part of history is coming on Monday, May 24, 2010 with Servicemembers United’s “GIVE ‘EM HELL – Congressional Call Swarm” campaign. Next week, the Senate Armed Services Committee and the full House of Representatives …

Yesterday the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan reached 1000. And the end of the war is nowhere in sight. On Tuesday, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members. Having taken nearly seven years to reach the first 500 dead, the war killed …

Saying the overturn of DADT “is not a question of whether, it’s a question of how,” Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) says he will vote against attaching the repeal attempt to a defense authorization bill. Nelson has been targeted by activists as one of six key Senators needed for the attempt. Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade: Repeal efforts were complicated …

Now that she has submitted a letter to them formally revealing that she is gay, the ROTC may force University of North Carolina senior Sara Isaacson to repay nearly $80,000 in tuition scholarships. Isaacson, 21, said she thought the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was unfair years before she realized she was a lesbian and realized she had the …

Via Towleroad, soldiers in Iraq show support for gays in the military with a silly and sexy routine set to Ke$ha. From the clip description: “Created by Codey Wilson and his elite step team of volunteers. Don’t give us a hard time for this, please? We’re just a few good men trying to enjoy ourselves and get this deployment over …

Ben Smith reports at Politico that a coalition of military bloggers have called for the repeal of DADT. The community of “mil-bloggers” — often hawkish, critical of White House and military leadership, devoted to both the First and Second Amendments — isn’t easy to define politically, but has proven an increasingly powerful voice from the ranks. The statement, which says …

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean has written an open letter to the president demanding that a repeal of DADT be attached to a Department of Defense funding bill. An excerpt: While I understand the need to research how repealing DADT will affect members of the military, the law can still be repealed with an implementation timeline this year. The time …

Could this be part of the DADT repeal implementation study? A new online inbox that enables servicemembers and their families to comment anonymously about the impact of a possible repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law has gone live. The inbox will enable servicemembers and families to offer their thoughts about how a repeal of the law that prohibits …

JMG reader Bernard tips us that the Smoking Gun has all the dirt about the dancing soldiers in the Lady Gaga tribute clip that I posted yesterday. Your favorite’s real name is Aaron Melcher. The video was the brainchild of Aaron Melcher, a married 24-year-old soldier who graduated in 2004 from North Carolina’s Gramercy Christian School. Melcher opens the video …

Soldiers in Afghanistan interpret Lady Gaga in between missions. DADT must be working, clearly this was done without any gay help. Cute enough, though. (Tipped by JMG reader Ted)

Goaded on by the Family Research Council, a group of 40 retired military chaplains have sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to keep DADT in effect. The chaplains argue in a letter to the commander in chief and defense secretary, due to go out Wednesday, that allowing gays to serve openly in the military would discriminate against …